Customer Reviews

Slow Burn: A Photodocument of Centralia, Pennsylvania

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Anyone interested in the Centralia mine fire will quickly find that the amount of published material about it is rather sparse. Most people run into Unseen Danger rather early in their hunt, which is an excellent overview work, but for those of us who hunger for more, books like Slow Burn start to creep onto the radar.

This title was published in 1986, and is almost 150 pages, approximately 1/3 to 1/2 of which are large black and white photos of the town and its residents.

While not being a scholarly book in the traditional sense, it offers several fascinating vignettes of the town as seen through the eyes of its residents and gives some insight as to the personal struggles that people had to go through when deciding to leave their homes behind and resettle (or not in some cases). As such, it can serve as a primary document for those of us interested in the historical / social side of the disaster, though given the recent nature of the events, tracking down the former residents would still be possible with a little legwork. That said, if one is looking for a primary source without actually digging out the phone book, this is a nice option.

Overall, I think the book is a worthy addition to the home library of any Centralia-phile, though the price can obviously be prohibitive at times due to the popularity of the subject and obscurity of the book.

The photos in this book (and a radio interview in Philadelphia with the author in 1986) started me on what became a very deep interest to me-the story of Centralia. I was furtunate enough to buy a copy at that time (along with "Unseen Danger"). I just returned from 9 years on the West coast (I'm a native Philly boy)and hadn't ever heard of this town or the mine fire.

I got to see the town starting at time when the book came out--the town was starting to be gradually razed to the ground. I was a regular vistor during those and subsequent years, although not as much these days.

I think this book is excellent on many levels--as a documentation of the tragic end of a town and the dispursing of its inhabitants; as a humanistic photo essay--the people of Centralia are captured and portrayed in a compassionate manner of the best humanistic photo journalists--

A moving tribute to the people of Centralia and what was a long and painful deterioration and end of what had been their town and their home.

I hope it comes back in print for those of you who also find the place and its story so compelling.

Probably the most important point that I can make about this book is that it is NOT really a photo-packed review of the actual town and fire itself. It focuses primarily on the people of Centralia, and would be a great companion book to have open while you are reading say, "Fire Underground; The Ongoing Tragedy of the Centralia Mine Fire" by David DeKirk.

It has a lot of the featured and talked-about people who weave in and out of the story. The photos are poignant and in Black and White, but there are very little photos of the actual town or the mine fire itself.

This book is very well done, and I feel uniquely qualified to review this, because I grew up in Centralia. The photos are very good and the documentation is as accurate as is possible with all the conveluded information that is "The Centralia Mine Fire", I would recommend this to anyone who wants more info on the fire.

This is a photo pictorial book. The short information narratives gives great insight to the featured photos. The book is old with a pricey tag, but it was written during the last days of Centralia. My only problem with this book is the photo selection. There are a great many photos in this book, but they focus on mainly the people who lived there. I would have rather liked to see photos of many of the town landmarks, that are now sadly gone. I have revisited Centralia twice in the last two years, and it is now hard to imagine where the buildings once stood. Other Centralia books mention a great deal about events that took place and the locations. This book (Slow Burn) could have been a gem by showing former photos of the spots others have mentioned by description.

At any rate, this is a book to have for those collecting Centralia information. Nice lay out and publication.